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Published: October 24th 2013
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Dusk over Goreme
taken from our pension terrace April 29/30
Early start for Turkey, up at 4am to be at airport by 5! At check in, we were asked why we were going to Turkey, it took about an hour to get clearance from Condor, our budget German airline! Crazy! 12 hours to Frankfurt, including a short stop at Dominican Republic, 4 at the airport then off to Istanbul, arrived 1pm,very tired! Blu had to get a visa for Turkey, so used his Irish passport for the first time as it was 15 € not 45! Kiwis were free! Hotel near airport overnight to sleep and rest. Decided to have a nice refreshing cuppa tea in the afternoon across at a cafe near the hotel, this turned out to be interesting - we asked for tea with milk and got served black tea and a small jug of hot milk! English tea is a mystey to most cafes in southern Europe!
May 1
Up early again to get our flight to Cappadocia. Our hotel built into the hill at Goreme was run by the lovely Angela, an Australian married to a Turkish local. Her Mum had just arrived from Melbourne with Timtams and Vegemite! Walked to the lookout
point, amazing views over the valleys, then down through the fairy chimneys - unbelievable place! Back on the main road, we stopped for a beer, suddenly a dust storm blew up, with thunder and lightning! It went away just as suddenly, so walked up to the Goreme Open Air Museum, cave churches in the rocks, fascinating. Went down for dinner to Fat Boys cafe, owned by Angela and her hubby. Mark the waiter is from Queensland!
May 2
After breakfast on the roof terrace overlooking Goreme, we took a day tour, which went to the Deinkuyu underground city, then to Ilhara Valley, where we walked 3km in the gorge to a riverside restaurant for lunch. Blu and I had baked trout, yum! Sat with the other 2 Kiwis on the bus, Rick and (another)Kate. Next stop was Selime Monastery, in an amazing cave set high on a cliff. This area was the chosen location for the Star Wars movie, except there was a falling out with the Turks! Was very surreal scenery for sure. Tour finished with visits to an onyx factory, and the Pigeon Valley and Goreme lookouts.
May 3
Got up at 6 to watch the
amazing sight of up to 100 balloons in the skies over Goreme! The area is very suited to balloon flights, sadly a couple of weeks after we were there, one crashed and 3 people died. We didn't do one as they are very expensive. Today we took the dolmus (local bus) towards Urgup, then walked through the Red and Rose valleys to Cavasin. Took a picnic lunch and took it at an easy pace, very scenic, but hot! Nice to find a taverna at the end of the walk with cold beer and shade! Fat Boys for dinner again- I had the pottery kebap, was really good, it's a casserole cooked in a sealed pot, which is broken like a hard boiled egg at the table in front of you. Got chatting to the family next to us, who invited us to stay with them in Paris! (We didn't end up staying there but it was very nice of them)
May 4
Sad to leave our lovely digs, and Angela....but next episode ... Istanbul!
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